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OAPEC Activities
Volume 41 Issue 10
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and international organizations specialized in
energy, oil and gas.
The second session was held at noon and
chaired by MrAbdul KarimAyyed, Director
of Media and Library Department/ Acting
Administrative Affairs Director, OAPEC. It
included two lectures:
The Role of Oil and Natural Gas in
Boosting Development in Arab Countries
Mr Abdul Fattah Dandy,
Director, Economic Affairs
Department,
OAPEC,
presented a paper titled
“The Role of Oil and
Natural Gas in Boosting
Development in Arab
Countries”.
The paper aimed at reviewing the
relationship between energy and sustainable
development, highlighting the important role
of the petroleum sector in the Arab countries
by defining the position of these countries on
the world energy map, and the importance
of petroleum in Arab economies. The paper
also tackled the role of oil in boosting Arab
development through: consuming oil and gas
in various economic sectors, and their role in
making financial revenues available to be spent
on various economic and social sectors, as
well as, funding imports and enhancing Arab
cooperation.
Most important conclusions driven from
the paper were:
•
The close connection between the oil and
gas sector and the development process in
the Arab countries through: firstly, using
them as a source of energy and rawmaterial
in the economic sectors and domestic
consumption; and, secondly, they make
revenues available for boosting economic
and social development.
•
The increase of demand rates for energy
between 2001 and 2014 from 7 million
BOE a day in 2001 to 14.3 million BOE a
day in 2014, representing an annual growth
rate of 5.6%.
•
Arab oil products consumption rose at an
annual rate of 4.6% from 3.8 million BOE
a day in 2001 to 6.8 million BOE a day in
2014. Also, Arab natural gas consumption
from 2001 to 2014 has risen by about 4.2
BOE a day, representing an annual growth
of 7% reaching 7.2 million BOE a day in
2014.
•
Natural gas share of the energy mix inArab
countries has risen from 42.5% in 2001 to
50.5% in 2014. Petroleum products share,
however, has dropped from 54.4% to
47.7%.
•
Oil revenues have a major role in boosting
development in Arab oil producing
and exporting countries through their
contributions to the economic growth